On 2 September 2016, in reply to my appeal request, Newham Council's Pauline Jones, Interim Head of Complaints and Member Enquiries, was satisfied that my stage one complaint was "assessed correctly" by Bernie Lynch, Complaints and Member Enquiries Manager, who determined that I may not be informed of Active Newham's next befriending training session, or asked for personal information to facilitate a befriending match up, because the session will be "bespoke to the person who needs befriending".

This irrational and illogical determination from senior management in Newham Council not only denies me the opportunity to befriend an older or isolated resident in my community, but seriously affects my educational and vocational prospects. It is at variance with the rational information provided in an Active Newham newsletter: "After attending the Newham’s Volunteers befriending Induction and training, Sajid was introduced to an older person - Mr Porter, based on the information he provided at the session." And it is discriminatory in its application and impact.

Declan cannot even befriend an older or isolated resident in the London Borough of Newham! This "befriending blockade" is being maintained by senior management in Newham Council right under the nose of Kim Bromley-Derry, the Council's CEO. Declan is trying to get his complaint of discrimination against the Council to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, but not even the Government's Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS) will confirm whether or not our local Labour MP, Lyn Brown, can refer a complaint of discrimination to the Commission. This is his formal Stage 1 complaint to the EASS for this crucial information if we are to keep going in our attempt to break this blockade:

19 September 2016

Dear Team Manager,

Please accept this email as a formal Stage 1 complaint.

I have twice telephoned your service to enquire if a Member of Parliament (MP) can refer a complaint of discrimination to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). I have been twice informed that your service does not know the answer to the question.

On 8 September 2016 I contacted my local Labour MP's office in Newham - Lyn Brown MP - regarding the referral of my complaint of discrimination against Newham Council to the EHRC. I was told that they do not know the answer to the question either.

On 14 September 2016 I wrote to the Director of the Government Equalities Office, Hilary Spencer, but I have not received a reply to date.

I would like you to investigate my complaint with a view to confirming whether or not an MP can refer a complaint of discrimination to the EHRC.

Yours faithfully,

Declan Heavey

Meanwhile, the unprecedented double-barrelled attack on our Church and State website continues unabated (SiteGround is paid $1,000 per year to host our site and manage the server):

1. Our Facebook likes/shares plugin has been showing zeros to varying degrees on category pages throughout the site since 19 August.

2. I've been blogging data relating to non-access to the site since 26 July.

12. It is important to underscore that the discriminatory surveillance suffered by the Applicant and his wife is not an isolated event. Rather, it is emblematic of a larger pattern of surveillance by law enforcement officials in the UK that has been well-documented by international and domestic human rights bodies. For example, GCHQ's Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG) specialises in the "4 D's": deny, disrupt, degrade, deceive. It has been branded by the press as the spy agency's "deception unit". Though its existence was secret until 2014, JTRIG has developed a distinctive profile in the public understanding, after documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the unit had engaged in "dirty tricks" like deploying sexual "honey traps" designed to discredit targets, launching denial-of-service attacks to shut down Internet chat rooms, pushing veiled propaganda onto social networks and generally warping discourse online. Previous reporting on GCHQ established its focus on what it regards as political radicalism. Beyond JTRIG's targeting of Anonymous, other parts of GCHQ targeted political activists and groups deemed to be "radical", even monitoring human rights NGOs. Simon Davies, president of the London-based Privacy International, asks: "If spying on human rights NGOs isn't off limits for GCHQ, then what is?"

'Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' - Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty

About me

I am a former psychologist from Madrid. My husband, Declan, is a former teacher from Dublin. We were forced to sleep rough on the streets of London for almost 4 years in total - from 4 November 2006 to 13 July 2009, and again from 14 April 2013 to 17 May 2014. We came to England in August 2003 from Ireland, and established Network for Church Monitoring in January 2011. We have no children.

Links

Network for Church Monitoring

The Church and State website at churchandstate.org.uk is an initiative of our London-based Network for Church Monitoring (N4CM), a non-profit, non-partisan company limited by guarantee (number 7496571). Registered Office: Suite 101, 254 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JY.

N4CM is dedicated to shifting the discussion about the importance of secular government back into the mainstream so as to find solutions for the great challenges of the 21st century. We are committed to women’s reproductive rights, immigration reform and the policies and programmes focused on a human rights approach to family planning and population stabilisation.

Participants in the Church and State website include 40 Nobel laureates (29 Signatories, 10 book excerpts and two Honorary Associates; the late Nobel Laureate Christian de Duve provided us with both his signature for our online petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and a book excerpt); eight members of the UK's House of Lords; and several hundred distinguished scholars from around the world.

Google Analytics says over 70% of our hits are from Americans.

'Let me recommend an important web site - churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out.' Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty